Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl eBook

I could not feel safe in New York, and I accepted
the offer of a friend, that we should share expenses
and keep house together. I represented to Mrs.
Hobbs that Ellen must have some schooling, and must
remain with me for that purpose. She felt ashamed
of being unable to read or spell at her age, so instead
of sending her to school with Benny, I instructed her
myself till she was fitted to enter an intermediate
school. The winter passed pleasantly, while I
was busy with my needle, and my children with their
books.

XXXVII. A Visit To England

In the spring, sad news came to me. Mrs. Bruce
was dead. Never again, in this world, should
I see her gentle face, or hear her sympathizing voice.
I had lost an excellent friend, and little Mary had
lost a tender mother. Mr. Bruce wished the child
to visit some of her mother’s relatives in England,
and he was desirous that I should take charge of her.
The little motherless one was accustomed to me, and
attached to me, and I thought she would be happier
in my care than in that of a stranger. I could
also earn more in this way than I could by my needle.
So I put Benny to a trade, and left Ellen to remain
in the house with my friend and go to school.

We sailed from New York, and arrived in Liverpool
after a pleasant voyage of twelve days. We proceeded
directly to London, and took lodgings at the Adelaide
Hotel. The supper seemed to me less luxurious
than those I had seen in American hotels; but my situation
was indescribably more pleasant. For the first
time in my life I was in a place where I was treated
according to my deportment, without reference to my
complexion. I felt as if a great millstone had
been lifted from my breast. Ensconced in a pleasant
room, with my dear little charge, I laid my head on
my pillow, for the first time, with the delightful
consciousness of pure, unadulterated freedom.

As I had constant care of the child, I had little
opportunity to see the wonders of that great city;
but I watched the tide of life that flowed through
the streets, and found it a strange contrast to the
stagnation in our Southern towns. Mr. Bruce took
his little daughter to spend some days with friends
in Oxford Crescent, and of course it was necessary
for me to accompany her. I had heard much of
the systematic method of English education, and I
was very desirous that my dear Mary should steer straight
in the midst of so much propriety. I closely observed
her little playmates and their nurses, being ready
to take any lessons in the science of good management.
The children were more rosy than American children,
but I did not see that they differed materially in
other respects. They were like all children—­sometimes
docile and sometimes wayward.